The NFL Combine is underway, but not every first-round prospect plans to participate. One player who may have just tanked his draft stock as a potential top-15 pick is Jermod McCoy. Now the Tennessee Volunteers' cornerback could become a tempting draft gamble for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On Thursday, as the defensive back group at the NFL Combine prepped for their media interviews, ESPN's NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid reported that McCoy will not work out or participate in position drills at the combine.
This was a disappointing revelation for cornerback-needed teams in the top-half of the first round.
McCoy missed the entire 2025 season with an ACL injury suffered in January of last year, and the expectation is that teams would see him perform in on-field workouts at the Combine. McCoy's injury was over a year ago, and his lack of participation is sure to be reflected in teams' draft boards.
But even after going an entire year without football, McCoy's slide could turn into the ultimate 'upside' gamble for the Steelers in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are likely to get a shot at CB Jermod McCoy in the NFL Draft after opting out of Combine drills
If you haven't studied McCoy's film, you might be asking: What's the appeal in taking a cornerback with injury concerns who is over a year removed from his last on-field action? The answer is simple—it's because he has both the tools and tape to be a top-tier CB at the next level.
In 2024, McCoy was fantastic. On nearly 700 defensive snaps, the talented CB stayed in lock-step with essentially every receiver he was asked to cover. As a result, McCoy earned an 87.0 overall PFF grade as a 19-year-old in 2024. Before the injury, many projected McCoy to be a top-10 pick in the draft.
Now just 20 years old, McCoy is one of the youngest players set to enter the 2026 NFL Draft in April, and he's only scratching the surface of his potential.
The Steelers have a sneaky need at cornerback. With quality size, good athletic traits, press-man coverage ability, and phenomenal ball skills (six interceptions in two seasons), the true junior profiles as a high-ceiling prospect at the NFLlevel. For the Steelers, he would slide in alongside Joey Porter Jr. as the team's starting boundary cornerback.
The interest is there on the part of Pittsburgh's brass. On Thursday, Christopher Carter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Steelers had a formal meeting with McCoy in Indianapolis.
Unfortunately for McCoy, dropping out of NFL Combine testing and drills could plummet his stock.
There's potential for a slide much further than most originally anticipated. Because he didn't play a lick of football last season and he's apparently still not ready to participate in drills, McCoy's stock could slide late into the first round, or even into Day 2 of the draft, if teams flag him for medical reasons.
The hope is that the ACL injury that caused the talented cornerback to be absent for so long is just a one-off injury. If he can stay healthy, he should have an excellent future in the NFL. Assuming the Pittsburgh Steelers clear him medically, they could take the BPA approach with the ultimate upside gamble on a borderline top-10 talent in the 2026 draft class.